Hyperbranched Polycarbosiloxanes: Synthesis by Piers-Rubinsztajn Reaction and Application as Precursors to Magnetoceramics

Abstract

Silicon-containing hyperbranched polymers (Si-HBPs) have drawn much attention due to their promising applications. However, the construction of Si-HBPs, especially those containing functional aromatic units in the branched backbones by the simple and efficient Piers-Rubinsztajn (P–R) reaction, has been rarely developed. Herein, a series of novel hyperbranched polycarbosiloxanes were prepared by the P–R reactions of methyl-, or phenyl-triethoxylsilane and three Si–H containing aromatic monomers, including 1,4-bis(dimethylsilyl)benzene, 4,4′-bis(dimethylsilyl)-1,1′-biphenyl and 1,1′-bis(dimethylsilyl)ferrocene, using B(C6F5)3 as the catalyst for 0.5 h at room temperature. Their structures were fully characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, 1H NMR, 13C NMR, and 29Si NMR. The molecular weights were determined by gel permeation chromatography. The degrees of branching of these polymers were 0.69–0.89, which were calculated based on the quantitative 29Si NMR spectroscopy. For applications, the ferrocene-linked Si-HBP can be used as precursors to produce functional ceramics with good magnetizability after pyrolysis at elevated temperature.